Need help on japan rail pass use for our itinerary esp hayabusa train

This october, me and my three friend will come to Japan and we will buy the 7 days rail pass. Our itinerary is below :16 oct : arrived at Narita and go to Osaka through Tokyo with shinkansen Hikari17: universal18: kyoto, kobe19: kyoto and we will travel to aomori after lunch with shinkansen hikari and then hayabusa20: lake towada21: hakkoda ropeway and travel to sendai after lunch with hayabusa22 : sendai and we will travel to tokyo on night23-25: tokyoI want to seek an advice regarding the hayabusa. When i see the train schedule in hyperdia, it seems that hayabusa only cover green, gran and other upperclass. Do I need to buy the green rail pass or i can take the hayabusa with standard rail pass(please tell me I can) Is it worth it to spend one day for only lake towada? Please be informed that we will not rent a car so we only travel with bus

Please help us. Thank youuuuu

Comments

Hi,You can use the ordinary JR Rail Pass and take the Hayabusa. Most of the seats on the train are ordinary, just like other bullet trains. The big difference is that seat reservations are mandatory. You can make them free with the pass though in any JR office.

Your plans of after lunch getting from Kyoto to Towada in one day are simply IMPOSSIBLE.

It will take you nearly 3 hours from Kyoto to Tokyo. Then about the same amount of time to get up to Hachinohe, and then take a 2 hour 15 minute bus ride to get to the lake. And none of that includes the waiting times. There are 4 buses from Hachinohe - the last one leaves at 1:20 PM.http://www.jrbustohoku.co.jp/route/detail/?PID=9&RID=13

You'll need to change your schedule - break up your travel up north with a day in Tokyo or Hachinohe and cut the time in Kansai by a day, or get the 14 day pass.

Thank you tenjin for your advice. I will not go to lake towada on the same day i travel from kyoto. I will only travel from kyoto to aomori and stay in hotel since we will arrived on the night and go to lake towada the next day. It is possible right? Do you have any suggestion where i can spend the night time (7pm to 11pm maybe) in aomori because we will arrived in aomori on 7 pm according to the schedule of shinkansen and we eager to see some scenery/event before sleep

Hi,You can definitely stay in Aomori City or Hachonohe. Neither city is that big so there is not much night life. There is the Aomori Bay Bridge in Aomori City and you might see a beautiful skyline.But after over 6 hours of travel you may be tired anyway, and I'd say an early morning start for Towada would be smart (especially if you have to rely on the buses, which are slow and few). You didn't specify where in Aomori exactly, but if you wanted to walk the Oirase Stream, then Hachinohe would be closer and easier.

We are planning to get a hotel near aomori station. From bus schedule to lake towada, we realize that the bus is quite slow and the schedule is not much, that is why we spare one day for lake towada only. Is lake towada worth the time? Is it really beautiful as we seen in the picture in web? If we back from lake towada to aomori station before sunset, do you have any suggestion place we need to see in the night and of course close to aomori station?Thanks in advance tenjin

I don't understand why you want to go Aomori City, unless you want to see something there - but then you ask me what to go and see. There is very little at night to enjoy.The region is indeed as beautiful as the pictures show - actually no photo can show the real beauty surrounding you. But to be fair they also don't show the big crowds that are also there in autumn - a weekday is by far a better day to go than a weekend.